A ship can tow a sound-receiving array and a sound-transmitting projector that together form an active sonar system. The sound projector emits pulses of sound that insonify objects. Echoes from the objects are detected by the receive array and, with suitable signal processing, the presence and bearing of objects can be inferred. Active sonar systems designed to detect objects in deep water at long ranges use powerful sound projectors that are frequently deployed separately from the receive array. Such sound projectors are large and heavy. Concomitantly, the deployment and recovery system is large and heavy as is the winch and tow cable. The weight and size of these deep water sonar systems are just barely acceptable for larger ships, but are too great for smaller vessels. In addition to the issues with size and weight, the high power of the acoustic projector in a deep-water sonar system offers few or no advantages in littoral waters having shallower depth. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide an active sonar system that is relatively light and small that could be deployed from a light and small handling system.